


Studying Can Be Lively

by oneill



Category: Karneval
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-09-02
Updated: 2013-09-02
Packaged: 2017-12-25 09:25:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 437
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/951433
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/oneill/pseuds/oneill
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Written for the fic_promptly prompt: Any, any, ignorance versus stupidity</p>
            </blockquote>





	Studying Can Be Lively

Nai pushed his pencil disconsolately around the margins of his worksheet. He had grasped addition and subtraction easily enough, but multiplication presented a more difficult challenge.

"Here," Tsukumo said, "you can try thinking of it as groups."

"Groups?"

Tsukumo nodded, pointing out the first problem. "For example, this one would be two groups of three. Or three groups of two."

"Three groups of two." Nai's eyes wandered away from the worksheet to some point over Tsukumo's left shoulder. His lips moved soundlessly for a while. Then he tipped his head to one side and said, "Six?"

"That's right, but . . ."

Tsukumo followed Nai's gaze back over her shoulder. Sure enough, six sheep stood behind her, neatly arrayed in three lines of two each, for Nai to count.

"Sorry, Tsukumo-chan." Nai wrapped his arms around his moss-lizard plushie and hugged it to his chest. "Teaching me is hard, right? Because I'm not as smart as everyone else."

"That's not true at all!" Tsukumo said, waving her hands as though to fan away Nai's unhappiness. "There are a lot of things you don't know yet, but that's because you haven't had nearly as much time to learn as the rest of us. But you know, Nai-kun, I think you have something even more important."

Nai looked up, blinking huge, earnest eyes at her. "Something important?"

"That's right." She reached out to clasp both of his hands in her own. "You're always willing to ask questions when you don't understand something, and you're grateful when people try to help you, instead of feeling embarrassed or resentful. What's more, your kind heart makes it so other people _want_ to help you. I think that's far more important than anything else. So don't worry, all right?"

"Okay!" Nai said, giving her a bright smile and an emphatic nod.

"Now, let me see."

Tsukumo slid off the bed and looked around the room, until at last she located the beribboned, cellophane bag of konpeitou the doctor had left as a treat for Nai. She tipped out a palmful and smiled down at them. Their vivid colors and starry shapes made them feel right at home in her hand. She carried them back over to the bed and set them atop one of Nai's folders.

"We can use these while you work out the basic concept, all right?" she said, arranging six of the bright candies into three neat rows. "Because otherwise . . ."

She looked back over her shoulder, through the open door and into the corridor beyond, where a veritable army of sheep were gathering.

". . . I'm afraid my room would become very crowded very quickly."


End file.
